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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Thursday, January 25, 2018 - Evening Program

Cases and Controversies: Pivotal Legal Questions of Our Times

Jeffrey Toobin

From the travel ban to the Colorado baker, from location data to the Wisconsin gerrymandering case, among many others, the Supreme Court’s 2017-18 docket is loaded with pivotal cases concerning national security, religious freedom, privacy in the digital age, and voting rights. The Court’s decisions on these and other matters will shape the American landscape for decades to come. Jeffrey Toobin, senior legal analyst for CNN, staff writer for The New Yorker, Supreme Court scholar, and author, will address some of the important issues fermenting in the U.S. legal system and the intricate judicial doctrine that shapes our legal, political, and social lives.

A senior analyst for CNN and staff writer for The New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin is noted as one of the country’s most esteemed experts on politics, media, and the law. The author of critically acclaimed best sellers, Toobin delved into the historical, political and personal inner workings of the Supreme Court and its justices in his books The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court and The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court. His recent book, American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst, was released in August 2016, and examines the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst.

After a six-year tenure at ABC News, where he covered the country’s highest-profile cases and received a 2000 Emmy Award for his coverage of the Elian Gonzales custody saga, Toobin joined CNN as a legal analyst in 2002 where he now serves as the senior legal analyst. Also a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1993, he has written articles on such subjects as the Bernie Madoff scandal, the case of Roman Polanski, and penned profiles of Justices Clarence Thomas, Steve Breyer, John Paul Stevens, and Chief Justice John Roberts. Prior to joining The New Yorker, Toobin served as an assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn, New York. He also served as an associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh.

Toobin received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.